Sure, there were practices that began when the paint was fresh and ended when it began to crack and peel. There were philosophical discourses that had Aristotle scratching his head. There were head games by the bushel, but there also were championships.

Through it all, though, the one point Byron Scott said he remembers about playing for Pat Riley was how the coach always stood by his players.

And so Scott, who has shown those Riley tendencies (witness his recent challenge of Karl Malone), gets steamed when he hears some who once played for Riley snipe at the coach.

“That’s the part that kind of upsets me,” said Scott, who will renew the whole pupil-master scenario tomorrow night when the Nets play Riley’s Heat in Miami.

“I don’t think, No. 1, it’s necessary. And, No. 2, the one thing I remember about Riles as a player is he always had his players’ back. He would do anything for his players to make them better, to make them feel at home, to make them comfortable. He wanted everything done first class for his players. For guys to come back out at him was kind of ludicrous to me.”

Scott was annoyed at the rips thrown against Riley by players such as Tim Hardaway and Anthony Mason in recent weeks. What may have compounded the criticisms was how Riley’s Heat struggled: 4-15 going into last night, including a 12-game losing streak that was the longest of Riley’s career.

Scott knows all about the agony of losing. He lived it last season. But he said shed no tears for Riley.

“I don’t feel bad for him,” said Scott, whose Nets ended a three-game road skid with a 107-93 victory in Chicago Tuesday. “I feel bad that people are taking shots at him. He’s just going through a bad stretch right now . . . I know him and I know he’s going to be all right and he’ll bounce back.”

Scott, 1-3 against Riley last season, sort of hopes the bouncing back doesn’t continue tomorrow. The Heat, with Rod Strickland starting for the first time, upset Milwaukee Tuesday. Brian Grant returned from injury last week and while Alonzo Mourning may suffer effects from the medications required for his kidney ailment, he still can be a formidable force.

Scott said he can see Riley stepping aside in the near future.

I don’t know if this is a make-or-break year,” Scott said, “but I think he’s probably gonna think about hanging it up in a year or two.”